1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to telemetry systems and monitoring devices, and more particularly to intelligent, monitoring devices with sensors and unique ID's for each user, in communication with a telemetry system that provides firmware updates or repairs remotely without interrupting use of the monitoring device by a user.
2. Description of the Related Art
Telemetry systems can be implemented to acquire and transmit data from a remote source. Some telemetry systems provide information about a user's activities.
It is becoming commonplace to use wireless packet data service networks for effectuating data sessions with. In some implementations, unique identifications (ID) need to be assigned to the devices in order to facilitate certain aspects of service provisioning, e.g., security, validation and authentication, et cetera. In such scenarios, it becomes imperative that no two devices have the same indicium (i.e., collision). Further, provisioning of such indicia should be flexible so as to maintain the entire pool of indicia to a manageable level while allowing for their widespread use in multiple service environments.
The telemetry system may incorporate a wireless technology such as wireless fidelity (WiFi); infrared (IR); or ultrasound in order to facilitate finding an object and/or data transmission. As an exemplary implementation, a medical telemetry system can be implemented to remotely monitor the cardiac electrical activity of a plurality of ambulatory patients while they remain within a predefined coverage area. The medical telemetry system may also be implemented to locate and track patients within the coverage area.
Medical telemetry systems may comprise an alarm adapted to identify high risk patients and/or patients requiring special assistance. Some medical procedures and diagnostic examinations require the removal of any telemetry system components attached directly to a patient. One problem with conventional medical telemetry systems is that the process of removing telemetry system components for purposes of performing a medical procedure or diagnostic examination can generate a false alarm. False alarms unnecessarily tax hospital resources and interfere with the working environment.
The popularity and growth of social network sites and services has increased dramatically over the last few years. Present social network sites include Facebook®, Google+®, Twitter®, MySpace®, YouTube®, LinkedIn®, Flicker®, Jaiku®, MYUBO®, Bebo® and the like. Such social networking (SNET) sites are typically web-based and organized around user profiles and/or collections of content accessible by members of the network. Membership in such social networks is comprised of individuals, or groupings of individuals, who are generally represented by profile pages and permitted to interact as determined by the social networking service.
In many popular social networks, especially profile-focused social networks, activity centers on web pages or social spaces that enable members to view profiles, communicate and share activities, interests, opinions, status updates, audio/video content, etc., across networks of contacts. Social networking services might also allow members to track certain activities of other members of the social network, collaborate, locate and connect with existing friends, former acquaintances and colleagues, and establish new connections with other members.
Individual members typically connect to social networking services through existing web-based platforms via a computing device, tablet or smartphone. Members often share a common bond, social status, or geographic or cultural connection with their respective contacts. Smartphone and games-based mobile social networking services are examples of rapidly developing areas.
In so-called “cloud” computing, computing tasks are performed on remote computers/servers which are typically accessed via Network Systems connections. One benefit of cloud computing is that it can reduce the relative processing and storage capabilities required by user devices (e.g., a cloud computer may load a webpage accessed by a tablet device and communicate only required information back to the tablet). Accordingly, recent years have witnessed an ever-growing amount of content and application software being migrated from local or on-site storage to cloud-based data storage and management. Such software functionality/services and content are typically available on-demand via (virtualized) network infrastructures.
Transaction processing using a point-of-sale (POS) terminal is well-known. Other types of transactions may be non-financial. In the area of physical security, for example, terminals may be used by patrolmen to check in, producing evidence of their having been in the required place at the required time. Terminals may also be used in the healthcare industry, for example, to produce a record of what medical personnel have attended a patient at what times, or for myriad other purposes. Transaction processing can be used generally herein to refer to the use of a transaction terminal to read, and possibly to write, a record-bearing medium such as a credit card, an ID card, a smart card, etc. The transaction terminal may use a contact or a contactless reading mechanism. In the case of smart cards, for example, a contact-less radio interface of a type known in the art may be used.
A transaction terminal has been introduced that has a wireless modem—in particular a CDPD (cellular digital packet data) modem—that may be used to establish a connection to a CDPD network, bypassing the PSTN with its accompanying delays and charges. Such an arrangement is shown in FIG. 2. The transaction terminal connects wirelessly to a wireless network such as a CDPD network. The CDPD network includes multiple Mobile Data Base Stations (MDBS) connected to a Mobile Data Intermediate Station (MDIS). The MDIS can be connected to a transaction processor via a Frame Relay connection.
Frame Relay can be used because it is much faster than an X.25 connection. However, this transaction terminal does not scale well to meet the needs of “distributed commerce” (or “mobile commerce”). Distributed commerce may be distinguished from e-commerce by a greater element of human involvement. In e-commerce goods or services are ordered and paid for on-line, in distributed commerce, goods or services may be ordered in person and paid for by tender of a credit card or other non-cash payment medium, as opposed to the submission by the consumer (e.g., Web submission) of credit card information or the like.
Like e-commerce, underlying characteristics of distributed commerce should be user convenience, greater satisfaction of demand, and vendor efficiency.
However, various impediments hamper distributed commerce. Whereas the “plumbing” for e-commerce (i.e., the Web) has become almost universally established, the plumbing for distributed commerce remains ad hoc. A vendor must invest in terminal equipment and terminal software/firmware, enter into a subscription agreement with a wireless carrier, and, perhaps most importantly, ensure that a transaction processor is capable of receiving transactions through the wireless infrastructure, or is willing to invest to create such wireless capability. In the prior systems, for example, transaction processors are typically not equipped to handle Frame Relay traffic, requiring that a new “front end” be provided.
Furthermore, today's hard-wired transaction terminals are relatively inefficient in their use of bandwidth.
Hence, although distributed commerce, like e-commerce, should be characterized by efficiency, flexibility and adaptability to rapid change, presently it is not.
There is a need for telemetry devices configured to provide for firmware updates or repair to remote monitoring devices without interrupting a user's service.